Sunday 18 January 2009 19.01 EST
First published on Sunday 18 January 2009 19.01 EST

So far, very little of the debate about the future of public service broadcasting (PSB) has been about programmes. There has been a lot about money, ownership and structures but, apart from the future of regional news, next to nothing about what the public will actually see and hear.

In a report called The Great Global Switch-Off, commissioned by Oxfam, Polis and the International Broadcasting Trust, I come to a disturbing conclusion on the future of one of the most distinctive aspects of PSB, television's coverage of international issues and stories. Unless urgent action is taken now, such programming could, in effect, have disappeared in four years' time - and this at a time when, from the credit crunch to migration to climate change, understanding the world around us has never been more important.

Ofcom and the main public service broadcasters are unanimous in their view that international coverage is important. All list it as an essential part of PSB. Yet it is already becoming marginalised. Over the past three years, a fifth of factual coverage of international issues has been moved off the mainstream channels to digital. Such programming is now seen by far fewer viewers. ITV showed just five hours about the developing world in 2007.

When you draw a map of the world, as shown by British factual television, you get a very distorted view. Most programmes are about the US and Europe. The US is largely crime, Europe travel or property. Africa is small and almost entirely about wildlife; South America just about invisible.

So what is going wrong? There is a near-universal belief among those working in television that international programmes get lower ratings and as audience ratings remain the preoccupation of most commissioners and controllers, there is a marked reluctance to commission such programming, especially any that sits outside familiar formats or doesn't have a personality presenter.

What can be done about it? The report lists 10 wide-ranging recommendations including the appointment of international champions, bringing BBC World News to the UK and the establishment of a new international online portal. But the biggest gap of all is the lack of any comprehensive international strategy for each of the main broadcasters. Endorsed by each broadcaster's board, such a strategy would also give commissioners and controllers the necessary "shove" to be prepared to take more risks.

Commissioners also need to be judged on wider measures of success than just ratings. Ratings will always matter, especially to commercial broadcasters, but any PSB system worth its name has to be about importance and audience impact as well. This needs to be reflected in commissioners' formal objectives.

Without a systematic plan to protect and nurture international coverage, the risk is plain: such programming will become further marginalised and then disappear altogether. The tragedy is that this wouldn't happen because anybody wanted it to; it would happen because the financial and competitive pressures overwhelmed even the best of intentions. But by the time anyone realised it had gone, it would be too late.

• Phil Harding is a former director of news and English networks at the BBC World Service. The full report is available at oxfam.org.uk/globalswitchoff